Straining
by starbreather93
Summary: In which Magnus had never trusted shadowhunters, but he never expected them to abuse their own and certainly not because of him.


Magnus hadn't felt this warm in years. His head rested on Alec's covered chest and they were both covered in numerous blankets.

His boyfriend was still sleeping soundly and Magnus was relieved. The shadowhunter had been arriving home late at night, well after Magnus has drifted off despite waiting for him. When Magnus had asked Alec why work had been keeping him he was informed that the shadowhunter was overrun with tasks at the Institute while his parents were in Idris. The warlock was concerned when he continued seeming more and more haggard and, if Magnus was calculating correctly ( which he was rather certain he was, centuries of education had taught him more than enough) his boyfriend hadn't been getting over five hours of sleep each night for the past week

That had lead to this morning, to Magnus turning off Alec's alarms and lying in bed contentedly with him, contemplating what to make for breakfast. He was debating over magicking some muffins from his favorite bakery or going through the mundane tasks of making a real breakfast, when he felt Alec's body wriggle from underneath him and removed his head in favor of getting at an angle where he could see his boyfriend waking up.

The shadowhunter blinked his eyes sleepily and when he saw Magnus above him a sloppy smile appeared on his face, "Mags," he said with his voice still hoarse with sleep. Magnus responded by placing his head in the crook of Alec's neck, nuzzling lightly.

Not a moment later he felt the body beneath his jerk upwards and struggle to removed itself from the heavy blankets piled in the bed. Alec was silently cursing to himself as he jumped off the bed, quickly pulling a pair of dark pants and his weapon's belt over his faded boxers. It was then that Magnus pulled himself out of bed as well.

"Alexander, please stop, you've been working yourself hard all week. If you continue the way you are then you're going to burn out."

Alec gave him a strange look, "You mean you turned off my alarms," he paused getting changed and crossed his arms over his chest "Magnus you know that I can't just skip work because I'm tired, shadowhunting isn't exactly something you choose your hours for."

Magnus could feel his tone changing into something fiercer, "Well it isn't something that should keep you exhausted for weeks. Excuse me for trying to prevent your body's inevitable collapse."

Alec looked down at the warlock and shook his head, "I really don't have time for this right now." He said with exasperation.

"Of course," Magnus muttered while throwing the bed sheets off of himself "you never seem to have time for this anymore."

The shadowhunter quirked an eyebrow at him, " What was that?"

"Nothing, darling," he responded with heat of in his voice, "just that you should probably be heading off soon."

"Yeah, I should have left hours ago, actually," The Nephilim said as he walked over to the dresser, "but I'm sure you knew that already, ya know, since you turned off my alarms." As he finished speaking he stripped off his shirt and Magnus, staring at him, noticed the discoloration of his back. The warlock made his way to Alec, now more concerned than angry, and moved to grab the new shirt he was about to put on. Up close he could see the angry burns and cuts that accompanied the dark bruises. Magnus let out a pained breath, his threat tightening, and Alec turned to face him, when the downworlder saw his boyfriend's chest, his pale chest was covered in black and purple.

He looked into his partner's eyes "Alec you never said you were injured."

That sentence was enough to make Alec move forward and tear the shirt from Magnus' grip and quickly pull it over himself. He lowered his arms and the warlock grasped onto them, "Alexander, you need to tell me what happened." He said while looking into nervous unreturning eyes.

"Magnus it's fine," he replied softly still staring at the floor, "this would only be expected to happen after being on as many patrols as I have in the past week."

He knew this was meant to calm him down, but it just made more questions spur in his mind. "Then why didn't you tell me? You know that I'm always willing to heal you, basic patrol injuries wouldn't even need much magic."

The warlock unclasped his hand from his lover's arm and took a step back, "Besides," he continued, " Jace always tells me when you've been injured, he can feel it when you ache."

Alec moved his hand to scratch at the back of his neck, a nervous gesture, but he stopped halfway out of pain, trying to conceal a wince that judging by Magnus' face was clearly seen.

Magnus took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm down. He knew that he would be able to deal with the situation better with a clear mind.

"Well," the immortal said while gesturing to the bed, " come sit down. I'm not letting you go to the Institute today."

It seemed as though the shadowhunter had now conceded and walked the short distance to the bed, the mattress creaking softly under his weight as he layed down on his stomach. Magnus gently pulled Alec's shirt off and placed his warm hands on his bare back. Blue sparks flowed from his fingers to the Nephilim's pale skin, tinting it for a moment before leaving behind uninjured but scarred skin.

Alec let out a sigh of relief when his boyfriend began healing him and pressed himself further into the comforter, relaxing under the calmness that Malec's magic gave. Magnus, however, did not feel the same serenity that the body beneath him was. He could see scars, likely weeks old, underneath new cuts. He knew that Alec had many scars, he'd seen almost all of them, but he didn't remember the ones covering his back being this numerous before.

Once he told Alexander he was done with his back he slowly flipped over and the warlock restarted the earlier process on Alec' chest. The main source of damage seemed to originate from the top of his chest, where his heart was. The cuts covering the area where red and angry, flaring on his white skin. When Magnus laid his hands on the injured chest Alec let out a gasp and his face melted with relief, which just concerned Magnus further. How could Alec have allowed himself to suffer this much when he knows Magnus or anyone at the Institute could have easily helped him? At the very least having his parabatai draw an iratze would have dulled the pain immensely.

Thinking about Alec's partner Jace made him more curious than before. If Jace had been able to feel Alec's pain then why hadn't he healed him or informed Magnus of his injury?

Alec's body was now fully healed, skin pale pink and covered in white scars. Alec himself looked relaxed and tired,his dark lashes flitting down, and although a part of Magnus wanted to allow him to sleep, a bigger part wanted answers. The warlock had made his magic have a calming effect on Alec and although he didn't want to have to draw the truth out of him this way, the artificial drugging was the easiest way to get results.

"Alexander," he said gently while cupping his cheek so that he looked into Magnus' glamoured eyes, "how'd you get hurt so badly."

Alec's eyes were half lidded, he seemed barely awake but he still tried to protest against Magnus and turned his head so that he faced Magnus' palm, pressing a soft kiss into it. He turned his head to how it was before and Magnus could tell that Alec wanted to drift off, wanted to avoid telling Magnus the ordeal he'd been through.

"Darling," Magnus said and gave his boyfriend a soft kiss on the forehead, his lips brushing against his dark bangs, returning the favor, "I'm flattered by the kiss but you have to answer a few questions for me, then you can sleep for as long as you want." Which was hopefully a long time Magnus thought.

Something uncomfortable passed by Alec's face and his body squirmed for a moment before going still again. Magnus softly prompted him for a response again and this time he replied with a whispered, " Not your fault," and locked eyes with him, "Promise it's not Mags, they just don't understand," Alec let out a soft breath, "Don't understand us."

Magnus' brow furrowed. "Who doesn't understand, love?"

Alec's eyes fell shut. "The Clave, shadowhunters, downworlders too I guess," He shifted again, "I would always love you though, doesn't matter what they do."

Concern bubbled inside of Magnus. He was beginning to understand how to read between Alec's words, he'd been told before by the shadowhunter that Magnus always understood what he meant, no matter how strange his phrasing.

No matter how much it pained him he needed to hear it first hand. "Alexander," he said and ran his thumb softly on his boyfriend's cheek, "who hurt you?"

This time Alex didn't open his eyes, didn't move at all aside from opening his mouth, "Shadowhunters at the Institute. Not their fault, it was the Clave's orders."

Pain and worry made Magnus' throat tighten, but he pushed it down and turned his attention back to figure in his bed. The scars that laid heavily on the nephilim's heart made sense now. He exhaled,said,"Thank you angel," and then tucked the comforter more snugly around Alec and placed his lips softly on his lovers palm before leaving the room with Alec already asleep.

.

.

When Magnus entered his living room, leaving the bedroom door closed softly behind him, he pulled out his phone and dialed Jace's number.

Jace picked up after the third ring, "Hey Magnus, everything alright with Alec? He seems to be uh, running late today." His voice had a slightly expected tone to it, as if he knew Magnus would discover Alec's secret eventually.

"I think you're well aware of why Alec's not able to come in today."

"Ah," he paused "He made us swear not to tell you, I know we should have but-"

Magnus cut him off, "I really don't want to hear your excuses right now. Just tell me what's happened to Alexander."

"Magnus…"

"Please, Alec won't tell me everything, I already tried drugging him."

"Yeah I'm not surprised he didn't want to- wait drugging him?"

Mangus exhaled, "Nevermind that, I shouldn't have said anything," he paced over to his balcony, "He's sleeping right now. I already healed him."

"Thank the Angel for that," Jace said relieved, "that explains why my pain has been alleviated too."

How was Jace bearing the same pain as Alec, knowing how bad it was for his parabatai, and still didn't want to tell Magnus the truth? "Would you like to explain how he got that pain." He replied more as a command than a question.

The other side of the phone was silent for a moment, "You know better than anyone how fragile downworlder and shadowhunter relationships are right now. You and Alec-together- it's just a lot of people, shadowhunters, they don't find it natural and they-" he cut himself off by sucking in a wet breath "Alec was near them everyday at work. They said they couldn't take it anymore- couldn't take being reminded of you two together everyday. Which is fucking stupid because Alec never even brings you up around them- they're the ones creating problems."

"Wait," Magnus interrupted, "Alec told me that he was hurt under the Clave's orders, not just some random shadowhunters at the Institute."

"Well I'm sure they believed that the Clave would agree with them, either that or they just told Alec that to screw with him further."

"How long has this been happening?"

Another pause and then the weak response of, "Everyday for the past two weeks."

Magnus hung up.

.

.

When Alec woke up it was to extreme warmth and comfort, both of which he hadn't felt in weeks.

He became aware of the silk sheets tucked gently around him and that the pain that had accompanied him in secret had vanished. He was at his and Mangus'' loft but was alone in bed .

Alec remember what happened before he fell asleep but got up now, bare chested and slightly sore, knowing that he needed to talk to his boyfriend.

As he stepped onto the hardware his feet were chilled and wasn't surprised when Magnus opened the door before him. He would have been able to hear Alec getting up, tell by the creaking of the mattress and floor.

His glamoured eyes looked first at Alec's chest- staying focused on his upper-area and Alec felt cut open. The shadowhunter crossed his arms across his chest. He had never wanted Magnus to see him like this, vulnerable because he was unable to share his secrets, his new scars clearly on display.

"Magnus," he breathed out, "I'm so sorry- I should have told you but I didn't want you to do anything too rash-"

The warlock made a pained sound, "Too rash?" He scoffed "Nothing would have been bad if it could have prevented this from happening." he finished while gesturing to Alec's chest.

Alec crossed the space between him and Magnus, not so much so that they were breathing the same air but enough so that he didn't have to feel the distance between them, feel so separated. Now he could see the sadness in Magnus' eyes, the guilt.

"Magnus, you know this could never have been your fault right? They were just looking for a reason to pick a fight and us being together was the perfect opportunity." Alec knew it wasn't completely true, if he hadn't been dating a downworlder then they might have ignored him, but they'd been gunning for him ever since he came out. They had never liked Lightwoods, much less Lightwoods that were, by their terms, abnormal.

Magnus saw through him, "Darling we both know that's a lie. It doesn't change the fact that if you weren't dating me than you would be unharmed, unscathed by them."

"I would rather love you and face everything that comes with it than be with anyone else." He said while moving to grasp Magnus in a hug. Their bodies enclosed each other perfectly and Alec rested his cheek against his boyfriend's shoulder and whispered, " We both knew what people would think of us when we got into a relationship and we both knew it's worth it."

"Well," the warlock said, now smirking "being in a biracial, gay relationship with a rather handsome warlock will attract some eyes."

Alec chuckled and kissed Magnus' neck lightly. "You would attract attention whether you were with a shadowhunter or alone, your wardrobe assures that."

Now it was Magnus' turn to laugh, "But you wouldn't want me any other way."

"No," he said "I really wouldn't."


End file.
